Cargo spacecraft "Dragon CRS-6"

Spacecraft nº:

SpaceX spacecraft nº: 7

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  40588 / 15021A Launch date - time  14 Apr 2015 - 20:10 UT Launch site  CC, SLC-40 Launch vehicle  Falcon-9 v1.1 Spacecraft  Cargo Dragon C108 Manufacturer  SpaceX Dimensions cabine  Height: 8.1m (27 ft) - Dia: 4m (13 ft) Launch mass   6000 kg Total cargo mass (kg)  2015 (pressurised) Earth orbit:    - Perigee / Apogee  205 x 360    - Eccentricity      - Inclination   51.6°    - Period   min

Description:

• DRAGON CRS-6 is a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, contracted to NASA. It is the eight flight for SpaceX's uncrewed Dragon cargo spacecraft, and the six SpaceX operational mission contracted to NASA under a Commercial Resupply Services contract. The mission brings equipment and supplies to the space station.
• After the retirement of the space shuttle, the Dragon spacecraft is the only vehicle capable of returning large amounts of cargo from the space station to Earth. Russia's crewed Soyuz capsule can only accommodate limited cargo when landing with a three-person crew.
• The launch will be sixth SpaceX commercial resupply mission to the ISS and the seventh trip by a Dragon spacecraft to the station.
  The Dragon will bring more than 4,300 pounds of supplies and payloads to the ISS including critical materials to support science and research investigations.
  
• The Dragon will remain at the ISS for about five weeks and then return to Earth filled with cargo including crew supplies, hardware and computer resources, science experiments and space station hardware.

The Dragon will bring more than 4,300 pounds of supplies and payloads to the ISS including critical materials to support science and research investigations. (PHOTO/SpaceX)

Mission details:

• The Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft resupply mission to the International Space Station was scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station April 10, 2015.
  The launch is now targeted for Monday, April 13 at 4:33 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
• The Dragon CRS-6 supply ship was launched on Apr 14, 2015. Its Falcon 9 launch vehicle delivered it into a 206 x 357 km orbit. The Falcon 9's first stage was flown down to the barge in the Atlantic but, valve stiction caused control problems in the final burn and the stage crash-landed.
• CRS-6 carries 16 cubesats: 14 3U-size Flock-1e for Planet Labs, one Arkyd-3R for Planetary Resources (also a 3U) and a 1U cubesat, Centennial-1, for Booz Allen Hamilton carrying an Air Force Research Lab imaging experiment. The cubesats will be transferred to the Kibo module after Dragon docking and ejected into orbit via the NanoRacks deployers and the Kibo robot arm. CRS-6 also carries a number of mice aboard the Rodent Research 2 package, and a 20 kg microgravity-qualified Lavazza espresso machine.
• Dragon CRS-6 arrived at ISS on Apr 17, 2015. The SSRMS arm grappled CRS-6 at 10:55 UTC and berthed it on the Harmony module at 13:29 UTC. The cargo ship was unberthed again around 09:29 UTC May 21, released at 11:04 UTC and splashed down in the Pacific at 1642 UTC May 21.

External links:

• Wikipedia: Dragon CRS-6 mission.

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel CC. Credit: #401

Launch cancel Houston. Credit: #401

Docking cancel Houston. Credit: #401

Splasdown cancel Hawthorne. Credit: #401